Just like that that makeshift memorial to Brian Euston in Westport is outta there…
For five months Westporters have wrestled with the desire to take down a gigantic, homemade, paper and plastic memorial of sorts to a 24 year-old man who died there last October. That after allegedly being punched, falling and hitting his head on the sidewalk, following a night of partying into the wee hours of the morning and drinking himself into an astonishingly high .387 blood-alcohol level.
Saturday night vandals ripped the memorial down.
"Somebody knocked down the Brian Euston monument and the family got pissed off and called the media, and Channel 4 came down and wanted to do a story on it," says a source. "It happened last night – we looked at the tapes – and it happened around mightnight. I think they’re going to redo it."
While that remains to be seen, a crew from Channel 4 hung out near the memorial Sunday, then packed it off to Euston’s family, a Westport spokesman says.
A couple weeks back Westport contacted Euston’s family about taking it down before the Big 12 and St. Patrick’s.
"I think the family really plans on leaving it there," said a source close to the situation afterward. "Somebody from our neighborhood decided to call (Brian’s) mom up and see if we could take it down before St. Patrick’s Day and she apparently called some media and told them we wanted to take it down. So we decided just to leave it alone."
Then on March 7th Channel 4 quoted the family as wanting the memorial left up.
"We plan to leave that intact for somewhere into the future," Euston’s mother told the station, noting that March was the perfect time for people to see the memorial with crowds of revelers expected for the tourney and St. Patrick’s.
Then came last night’s vandalism…
"They were miffed about it," says the source. ‘They were like, ‘What happened? Did you guys take it down?’ "
Here’s the problem.
"It can’t stay up forever," says former Westporter Craig Glazer of Stanford’s. "He’s not John Lennon and in fairness to Westport, it’s an eyesore."
The memorial wouldn’t have lasted two weeks – if this had gone down in Crown Center or the Plaza, Glazer says.
"So to Westport’s credit, that thing’s been up for the longest time of anything I’ve ever seen," Glazer says. "What the family doesn’t understand is most people don’t know who he is. Then when they ask someone and find out, it’s like a sign that says, ‘Don’t come down here.’ And that’s not fair to Westport. I know how awful this was for the parents; it’s like when one of our pets dies. But it’s not a sacred cow, because it wasn’t errected in a professional manner – it’s makeshift, it’s thrown together."
Pets Die, Nigro Did it
Glazer are you serious? Pets die. My God. Everyone knows Nigro trashed it.
I’m Sick of The Entire Thing
I’m sorry he got killed, but man there are lots of others killed for sad reasons, and they never got nothing up. He had his time. Again sorry to the folks.
Hearne Your Mean Spirit Never Ceases to Amaze
Hearne you are so damn cold.
Good Points Hearne
I think its well put.
Hearne Your Cool with Me
Get off the guys back.
Wow …
“I know how awful this was for the parents; it’s like when one of our pets dies.”
I had Craig pegged as a shallow human being based on his previous writings but this quote confirms it. How pitiful … comparing the death of a human being to the death of a pet???
And … Hearne used that quote intact to either: a) show us what a douche Craig really is, or b) he is just as shallow. I suspect the latter.
Doggonnit!
Amen Cliffy. KCC has hit an all time low with that one.
Seriously, WTF?
I know Hearne and Craig just write shit to get a rise out of readers like me (and Cliffy and Smartman), kinda like KK doesn’t really believe half the shit he says. And, to a lesser extent GH with is constant KU bashing. But you guys have really gone too far with this one. It was disgusting enough when that one hack kept on the car wreck that killed the poor high school kid in Olathe. Called the family. Really? And Hearne with his constant pics of this kid looking like a wreck all the time and ALWAYS referring to his BAC. AND, now Glazer compares him to a pet? You guys might just be the most dispicable human beings on earth. What now, you gonna make some funny jokes about surfing in Japan? I understand that you are not real journalist so you just make up shock shit. And we can all have a take and go back and forth. But this is the loss of a child! My God. I don’t think Craig has any kids and I don’t know about Hearne but if you did maybe you would understand. There is NO greater tragedy than to lose a child. Take a step back guys and do some soul searching. What you are doing here is beyond disgusting.
Bound to Happen
Everybody knew this home made monument would get somehow “removed” before St. Patrick’s Day. The method has turned out to be assumed vandals, paid or unpaid. The fat daddy merchants, whiskey purveyors, burger burners, and pizza spinners got their wish. So party on, Westport, and ignore your shameful and sordid past.
The “Memorial” was to remind us of another “Hate Crime”
This blog and TKC have consistantly, imo, undermined what was, imo, a hate crime. and, indulged ad hominem character assassination.
I think the parents, once again, imo, think it was a hate crime, and they are pissed enough to keep driving the point home, in spite of keeping the emotional wounds caused by his death, bleeding.
Underplaying the violence and the standard garden variety thug-type crime, is a go to strategy for apologists with an agenda in these unfortunate situations.
The eponymous Tony Botello and his TKC Blog is the point guard on this on going apology for a criminal sub culture that breeds hate and destruction every day in this city.
He posted today, on TKC, “REMEMBER THAT MOST RATIONAL PEOPLE WANTED TO MOVE FORWARD AND TAKE IT DOWN AFTER IT WAS REPORTED THAT THE TRAGIC DEATH WAS A RESULT OF A FIGHT AND NOT THE RACIST “MURDER OF AN INNOCENT” RUMORS MANUFACTURED ONLINE!!!
I have a different opinion. “chuck said…
Euston was blowin a 3.7 Tony.
The man couldn’t have kicked Stephen Hawking’s ass much less a recently released convict, with assault charges, gun charges, dope charges and his “friends” there for moral and physical support.
No one with room temperature IQ and any experience on KC’s mean streets is going to buy the ‘It was a fight” horse shit unless they have an agenda like you, or are part of the malevolent bedrock of hate and stupidity that is archetypical of the Hip/Hop/Rapper generation of uneducated violent mysogynistic pukes that run these streets every day with impunity.
This death was a sucker punch hate crime with malice and intent that was filmed on cell phones and sent, whit a laugh up the sleeve, to people throughout the city who were friends of those on teh scene who didn’t get a chance to “enjoy” a front row seat to another murder.
Black on white crime is 50 to 1, Black on white rape is 565 to 1, US DEPT of Justice.
Negation of those stats is possible by viewing them through the prism of blogs like this, which covertly, and tacitly excuse and minimize abhorrant behaviour with slatternly psuedo journalistic prentension, while, with permission from unwritten social contracts in the new Zeitgeist, assasinate the character of all white people and promote violence against same.
This a standard un prosecuted hate crime. The prosecution has rested before the trial even starts.
No snitching, in this case, is exculpatory in advance of commission.”
The racial divide will never be breached until there is a real time look at responsibility for actions, especially criminal actions.
The Euston family, imo, want to be sure that this City remembers accurately, their son’s needless death.
Don’t Worry….
Don’t worry, Jr. and Glazer are just paving the way for a big Westport Groupon deal announcement soon.
Let me get this straight, Nigro’s going to walk out in front of the video cameras he knows are surveying the scene and vandalize something? How dumb do you think he is?
Here’s my take and I have two children. Craig is speaking as a single man with no children, but he owns a dog that he cares greatly for. And I have known many people who never had children but formed strong attachments to their pets. To them, their pets are their children.
Craig’s intention wasn’t to diminish the value of human life but to frame his sympathies in a manner he could relate to. I remember a couple years ago when Johnny Dare’s dog died. Johnny was heartsick.
Let’s not get sidetracked from the larger issues in this story
Hearne … It was still a really stupid thing to say.
And why am I not surprised you don’t get that.
This Story Does Have A Silver Lining….
At least Glazer doesn’t have any children. (Or, at least, none that he knows of…. Ha, ha, ha!)
I Am Sorry You Think That, Didn’t mean it That Way
Hearne put two sentences together when he spoke to me that really were not explained. As he says now, I was giving an example for me not the world. I have, as Hearne points out, a pet I love very much and all I meant was how heartsick that would make me if he died or was killed. Surely a human life is much more valuable than a pets. I didn’t mean to compare the two, I am not heartless as some of you have commented. I know how badly his family feels and I am agreed it was likely a hate crime couched as something else for PC reasons. I wrote this before. The police report says accidental. I don’t agree, nor do I believe their story. Even that drunk I doubt he would have gone to a group of black young late night party people and started crap. I feel he just ran into them and they hit him and killed him. The person who did it has a record, was on parole/probation and will go to prison anyways for that violation, likely for several years. So the city feels this is the trade out. I also don’t think the person who hit him tried to kill him, just wanted to show off. Yes a black/white thing that went very wrong. So again I am sorry that it came out the way you guys think I meant it. I would be destroyed if one of my little nephews was killed like that, much more than my little dog. No I have no children, Hearne does. It was a tragic affair to say the least.
Yes There Is No Greater Tragedy Than the loss of a Child
I do agree with that statement. I am not the one who stays on this story. I was asked about the removal of the photos and flowers and such from Westport, that was all. Again I am sorry for what looked like a cold hearted comment. I am not cold hearted. I shed tears for others and even in some moives, I am normal on that one.
I give up, why?
Craig mans up and offers an explanation while Hearne,
not surprisingly, tries again to be clever.
You know, Craig, Hearne wrote this story. He is supposedly a seasoned journalist. Afterall, he used to work for the Star (please use your sarcasm meter here). He could have given you a call and said, “Hey, that comment about pets might make it look like you place as much value in an animal’s life as a human’s. You sure you want to say that?”
You should be more careful when you allow Hearne to quote you. It’s pretty obvious he doesn’t give a crap about others and he sure doesn’t pay much attention to his writing.
What would any of us do without Cliffy around to guide us?